AI Data Center Tenants Demand Over $5M Daily Late Fees, Spurring New Insurance
Late-delivery penalties for data centers have jumped from $1M to over $5M daily, leading brokers like Marsh to launch specialized coverage.
According to reports by Techmeme and AI Weekly citing The Information, tenants of AI data centers—such as hyperscalers and AI labs—are now demanding late-delivery penalties exceeding $5 million per day, a significant increase from approximately $1 million in the spring of 2026.
This shift in risk allocation has prompted insurance broker Marsh to develop custom "delay-in-delivery" policies through its global digital infrastructure practice. Marsh's Nimbus facility raised its limits to $2.7 billion in January 2026. Goldman Sachs estimates that only about half of scheduled U.S. data center capacity will arrive on time.
Contracts such as OpenAI's deal with SB Energy illustrate this leverage: OpenAI receives one free day of rent for every day of delay, with penalties doubling after 90 days. This indicates that major AI buyers are using their bargaining power to transfer supply chain delay costs to developers.